BookStack: SubStack's Indie Book Catalog - Coming Soon

Learn a little bit about an upcoming project of mine.

Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash

Editing to add: You can now fill out the form to get your books listed. There is a listing fee, but I won’t be charging you until I’m ready to open the catalog and add your listings. You can fill the form out here:

Last year when I started my blog Hazel Allen Writes, one of my goals was to find ways to help promote other writers. This had materialized through doing free Author Spotlight posts. However, as my blog began to grow bigger, I knew there was more I could be doing for the community.

Which is why I’m making BookStack: SubStack’s Indie Book Catalog. While this project isn’t going to be ready for a little while, I decided to make the publication so I could start doing prep.

And you can also help me shape BookStack by filling out the survey form below. The form was made before I settled on starting an entirely new publication, and also contains a different name for it too. But your feedback there still matters.

But what is BookStack, and what can you expect from it?

As mentioned before, BookStack is my attempt at making an Indie Book Catalog here on SubStack. This will all be built on a system of listings and directories to help make the catalog more fluid and easier to navigate.

Unlike my Author Spotlights though, submitting your books to be listed in the Catalog will cost a little bit of money. My intention is to make this affordable however, with a listing fee of $3 for each book. And a bulk discount option for series.

In addition to the Book Catalog, I plan on moving some things over from Hazel Allen Writes:

• Author Spotlights: I’ve mentioned these a few times already. But they’re the weekly Spotlight posts I do on my blog to showcase other writers and their work. Currently these are posted once a week, and will remain free when I transition them over to BookStack.
  
  Given that BookStack will most likely have nowhere near the same Subscriber count as my main blog, I do have a plan to give the Spotlights the same amount of exposure as I transition them over. But more on that will be revealed at a later date.

• Book Reviews: Occasionally on my main blog I post book reviews for everyone to read. Since I don’t post these nearly as often, I’m not worried about how they’ll transition over to BookStack. However, I’ll be tinkering with their structure and format to better fit this publication.

So what does this all mean for the future of Hazel Allen Writes:

My main blog is already more of a personal venture to begin with, but as I continue working on BookStack— I plan to have Hazel Allen Writes focus more on my poetry and short stories. So aside from the Spotlights and Book Reviews being moved over here, not much will change for that blog.

I know a lot of people have subscribed to my main blog for the Author Spotlights, but I think most people follow me for my writing. So having BookStack focus more on indie related stuff will help distinguish the two.

Some final things you should know:

Before BookStack officially opens up, I’ll be posting some forms for the Catalog. Which will cover two different things:

• Book Listings: This form will allow you to submit your book listings, and will contain a link to where you pay the listing fee. And the post for each listing will contain the following info:

  

• Author Profile: This is a form which will only need to be filled out the first time you submit a book to be listed. The information your Author Profile post will contain will include:

  • Your name

  • Genres

  • Author picture

  • Your bio

  • Books listed

  • And your website

  All of this is still be workshopped though, and may be shaped by feedback before the catalog is opened.

Lastly, BookStack is primarily a solo venture, so it’ll take time for me to work on the Catalog. So details on how often the Catalog will be updated will come at a later date. If this project becomes bigger than expected, I may look to add someone on to help me. But for right now it’s just me working on everything.

Now if you’d like stay updated on BookStack and everything I’m working on here, definitely give the publication a SubScribe. You’ll see some updates and changes here and there, so I don’t think you’ll want to miss out on all of that. That being said, I bid you all adieu for now!